Many television broadcast systems, including terrestrial (“over-the-air”), cable, and satellite television broadcast systems, provide literally hundreds of broadcast channels over which individual television programs, such as movies, sporting events, news programs, series episodes, and other television programs, may be communicated to thousands or millions of individual television broadcast receivers, or “set-top boxes”. In turn, each set-top box is configured to present one or more such programs to a user, as selected or determined by the user, by way of a television, video monitor, or similar display device.
With the large number of programming channels available, a program or event may be broadcast or otherwise presented over two separate channels. For example, many local television stations and cable networks provide both a standard-definition television channel and a high-definition television channel. As a result, the same television program or event may be presented over the “paired” channels so that viewers in possession of a set-top box and connected television that are both capable of decoding and/or presenting high-definition may view a high-definition version of the program, while those viewers not so equipped may still enjoy the same video content by way of the standard-definition version.
In some cases, a high-definition channel paired with a standard-definition channel may not carry any programming for periods of time during the day. For example, a satellite or cable television system may allocate a limited amount of communication bandwidth to several different networks, thus allowing only a subset of the networks to use that bandwidth for high-definition content at any particular time.
In another example, two programming channels operated by different content providers, such as different broadcast networks or television stations, may carry the same content, such as a sporting event, possibly by way of the same or different production teams. However, due to contractual agreements between the broadcasting entities and the sports teams or leagues involved, one of the two channels may be “blacked out” for viewers located in one or more specific geographical areas, forcing those viewers that wish to view the sporting event to select the remaining channel available for carrying the desired content.